Again, he has said:  “This is one full of light, rejoicing in suffering with our Lord.  This is what those who like Lead, Kindly Light must come to—­they have to learn it.”

  Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
      Lead thou me on;
  The night is dark and I am far from home;
      Lead thou me on;
  Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
  The distant scene; one step enough for me.

  I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
    Shouldst lead me on;
  I loved to choose and see my path; but now
    Lead thou me on;
  I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
  Pride ruled my will.  Remember not past years.

  So long thy power has blest me, sure it still
    Will lead me on
  O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent till
    The night is gone,
  And with the morn those angel faces smile
  Which I have loved long since, and lost the while.

LET SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID[A]

[Footnote A:  From Home-Folks, by James Whitcomb Riley.  Used by special permission of the publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.]

By JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

  When over the fair fame of friend or foe
    The shadows of disgrace shall fall; instead
  Of words of blame, or proof of so and so,
    Let something good be said. 
  Forget not that no fellow-being yet
    May fall so low but love may lift his head;
  Even the cheek of shame with tears is wet,
    If something good be said. 
  No generous heart may vainly turn aside
    In ways of sympathy; no soul so dead
  But may awaken strong and glorified,
    If something good be said. 
  And so I charge ye, by the thorny crown,
    And by the cross on which the Saviour bled,
  And by your own soul’s hope for fair renown,
    Let something good be said!

POLONIUS’ ADVICE

  Give thy thoughts no tongue,
  Nor any unproportion’d thought his act. 
  Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 
  Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
  Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
  But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
  Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade.  Beware
  Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
  Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee. 
  Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
  Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement. 
  Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
  But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
  For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
  And they in France of the best rank and station
  Are of a most select and generous choice in that. 
  Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
  For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
  And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 
  This above all:  to thine own self be true,
  And it must follow, as the night the day,
  Thou canst not then be false to any man.